In gas turbine engines, the overall operating efficiency may be adversely affected by leakage of a working fluid around the tips or the bases of rotating airfoils. More specifically, in a compressor, leakage of the compressed fluid around the tips or roots of the airfoils may result in a loss of lift and may introduce viscous losses. This in turn reduces the pressure rise capability of the compressor and causes wasteful conversion of input mechanical energy into gas energy.
It is known to utilize a cellular shroud or honeycomb-type abradable seal construction over the vane tips or about its roots to stabilize the flow near the vane root or compressor casing or wall allowing a higher pressure rise before separation and/or desensitizing the performance of the compressor to inlet radial velocity profile changes near the cellular shroud or honeycomb seal.